Adjustable door support



Dec. 1, 1936.

E. J. .LANGER ADJUSTABLE DOOR SUPPORT Filed Jan. 20, 1934 INVENTOR EDWARD J. LANGER ATTORNlY Patented Dec. 1, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,062,320 V j ADJUSTABLE noon SUPPORT Edward J. Langer, PortlantLOreg. Application January 20, 1934, Serial No. 707,492

4 Claims; (01. 16--.-44)

This invention relates to improvements in supporting casters and more especially to the type of casters shown and described in my United States Patent No. 1,944,185 covering Trunnion ad- 5 justable supports, and dated January 23, 1934.

The present invention has for its principal object to provide a device of this character which will afford a yielding support to single doors or double doors, such, for instance, as garage doors 10 and the like, or to any swinging closure to which the device may be attached.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which may be mounted to a door at any point outwardly from the longi- 15 tudinal center line of the door and. which, when so attached, will carry practically all of the weight of the door to thereby relieve the door hinges of the ordinary load and permit them to swing freely.

20 A further object of the invention is to provide a device with a plurality of caster wheels formed of resilient material, adjustably mounted with respect to the door and arranged in rolling contact with the floor beneath the door so that when adjusted in predetermined positions, the door is free to move about its hinges but at the same time will be held in any of its adjusted positions by reason of the softness or rather flexibility of the casters.

30 A still further object of the invention is to provide the said plurality of caster wheels in adjustable relation with their support so that the caster wheels may be mounted to the door and so arranged that they will travel in an are described 35 by the swing of the door and during such course of travel, will be afiorded differential action of rotation among themselves and independently of each other.

These and other objects will appear as my invention is more fully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and finally pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

45 Figure l is a fragmentary view of the lower and outermost corner of a door, showing my new and improved device in operative engagement therewith.

Figure 2 is an enlarged front view of the device 50 with parts broken away for convenience of illustration,

Figure 3 is a front elevation of a bracket for rotatably carrying the casters and which is provided with a vertical bearing.

55 Figure 4 is a top plan view of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a detail view of a coil spring having attaching discs secured to its opposite ends.

Figure 6 is a bottom plan view of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a top plan view of Figure 5.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- .5 mg:

Reference numeral 1 indicates the main body of my device which is in the form of a hollow cylinder threaded as at 2 at its uppermost end and slotted as at 3 at its lower end. The cylinder 10 is provided with suitable brackets 3A for mounting' the cylinder to any support with which the device is to be used. These brackets are apertured as at 3B to accommodate wood screws or the like. The upper and threaded end of the cylinder is adapted to receive an internally threaded and knurled cap 4 which is formed with a reduced and upwardly extending internally threaded portion 5, adapted to receive on its exterior threads an internally threaded cap 6. The internal threads are adapted to receive a threaded shaft I formed at its uppermost end with a reduced and squared portion 8 for convenient engagement with a tool. The lowermost end of the threaded shaft 1 is reduced as at 9 and formed with a head [0 for removable engagement with a disc I l which is secured by any suitable means such, for instance, as brazing, welding, or the like, or the same may be secured by clips, to a compression spring l2 whose lowermost end is secured to a companion disc l3. The spring and'discs are slidably mounted within the cylinder I and both of said discs are formed with apertures M of irregular formation, somewhat similar to the formation of a key hole. The enlarged portion of the aperture I4 is adapted to be freely advanced over the head H] of the lowermost end of the shaft 1 for subsequent locking engagement with the reduced portion 9 of said shaft and the head H], by slightly moving said 40 disc into a centralized position with respect to said shaft whereupon the said reduced portion 9 is then positioned within the smaller end of said aperture I4,

The aperture M in the disc l3 in like manner is adapted for engagement with a head l5 which may be either in the form of a machine screw shown in Figure 3 or which may be formed integral with a vertical shaft I 6. The shaft I6 is slidably mounted within the cylinder I and is formed at its lowermost end with a bifurcated bracket H whose legs I8 and I9 are adapted to carry a shaft 20 upon which are rotatably mounted, independently of each other, a plurality of casters 2|.v These casters must necessarily be made of some soft material, such as rubber or the like to permit distortion of the casters in operation over any irregularities in the floor over which they are moved and also to permit their distortion when in a position of rest as will be more fully hereinafter described. Moreover, due to the independent mounting and rotation of the casters, a differential action of rotation is permitted between each of them when following their course of travel in an are described by the door to which they are attached. Due to the width of the combined casters, this. is an important feature, since, obviously, the outermost caster must travel farther than the innermost caster, and hence must rotate a correspondingly greater number of times. Near the upper end of the shaft I6, I provide a plurality of threaded apertures 22 arranged in various positions around the periphery of the shaft to threadedly receive a set screw 23 which is adapted for sliding engagement with the groove 3 in the main body I. The set screw may be securely positioned in any one of the threaded apertures 22 to determine the angular relation of the shaft, bracket I1 and casters 2! with respect to the main body l and the door to which it is secured. For example, in Figure 1, the bracket I! and casters areshown in an angular position with respect to the door and are so arranged that they will follow precisely the are described by the door when swung to an open or closed position. In Figure l the set screw is shown mounted in the outermost aperture on the left hand side of the lower group of the same shown in Figure 3. In like manner the bracket and caster may be securely positioned into a straight-ahead direction by mounting the set screw in the center aperture as shown in Figure 2. By this arrangement and the provision of the said threaded aperture-s 22, the shaft l6 and its related parts may be secured into a variety of angular positions with respect to the main body I.

When installing the device, the cylinder l and its brackets are presented to the door with the casters 2| in contact with the floor. When the cylinder and brackets are secured to the door the cap 6 is removed and the threaded shaft 1 is advanced to compress the spring l2 which in turn, of course, applies initial downward pressure to the casters 2| through the shaft 16 and bracket l7. Any amount of downward pressure may be thus applied to the casters to permit them to roll and at the same time compress said casters in any position Where they come to rest by the stopping of the door to hold the door in said stopped position.

While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A device of the class described comprising a hollow cylindrical body, a shaft yieldingly and slidably mounted within said body and extending beyond one end of said body, the lowermost end of said shaft carrying a plurality of caster wheels, means for regulating the yieldability of said shaft, and means for adjusting said shaft with respect to the body through certain degrees of a circle.

2. A device of the class described comprising a hollow cylindrical body, a compression spring disposed within the body, and means for regulating the compression load of said spring, a shaft slidably mounted within said body and infiuenced by said spring, a plurality of caster wheels carried by said shaft and adjustably mounted for movement through certain degrees of a circle with respect to said body.

3. A device of the class described comprising a cylinder adapted to be mounted to a support, a plurality of caster wheels formed of compressible material and yieldingly and adjustably mounted for movement through certain degrees of a circle with respect to said cylinder.

4. In a caster having a wheel rotatably and yieldingly mounted on one of its ends by means of a vertical shaft slidably and adjustably mounted within a cylindrical housing, the combination of an adjusting shaft threadedly mounted through the upper end of said cylindrical housing, a spring interposed between said adjusting shaft and said vertical shaft, a headed projection formed on the lowermost end of the adjusting shaft and on the uppermost end of the vertical shaft, a disc secured to each end of said spring, and each of said discs formed within an irregular aperture for removable engagement 

